Windows 8 Hyper-V Option

Under construction but it appears to be working for most people with new machines. Older machines may not have the necessary hardware virtualization & SLAT support.

First, Virtualization must be turned on in the BIOS. You can get to your BIOS when booting using either the F2, F8, F12, etc. key (and you have to be quick as I just continually hit the F2, F8, F12 keys) and then select and support Virtualization. Next you need to turn Hyper-V on in Win 8. The following italicized entry was originally written by Lloyd Case – reproduced from: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2018309/six-awesome-built-in-windows-utilities-no-one-knows-about.html however I have augmented it with Control Panel directions.

The Windows 8 Pro and Enterprise versions include the Hyper-V virtual machine manager that was originally built into Windows Server. However, it isn’t installed by default. If you want to use Hyper-V, go to the Control Panel, click Programs, and selectTurn Windows Features on or off. Choose Hyper-V and click the OK button. After Hyper-V is installed, you’ll need to reboot the PC.

To access the Control Panel, go to the windows desktop (the old desktop not the new Metro view) and double click the Windows Explorer folder. In the left panel will be an icon called Computer, click on this Computer icon and now look up at the top menu tabs (File, Computer & View). Choose the top Computer menu tab and you will see Open Control Panel.

You end up with two applications: Hyper-V (the virtual machine manager that runs the VM software) and the Hyper-V Manager, where you create or remove virtual machines and .VHD (virtual hard drive) files. Once you’ve created a VM, you can install any OS you want, including Windows 3.1 through Windows 8, Linux, BSD, and others.

Note that the Windows 8 version leaves out a few features built into the server version, including GPU virtualization (no 3D acceleration in Windows 8 VMs) and some exotic networking features (such as fibre channel support). If you were a user of the Windows XP Mode feature in Windows 7, which used the older Windows Virtual PC, then Hyper-V can fill in the gap. However, unlike with XP Mode, you’ll need a valid Windows XP license key to install Windows XP into a virtual machine.

Now if your Hyper-V manager does not show or provide you with the ability to create a new VM you need to download the Hyper-V client.

Screenshot Submissions – please return to the VMWare Ubuntu instructions for detailed screenshot requirements but in a nutshell they are: screenshot of your MD5/SHA1 verification, screenshot of your Ubuntu desktop and a screenshot of your Terminal in Ubuntu.